Tag: Hospice

A Thank you to the Hospice

Hospice staff card

From the Prince of Wales Hospice website, pwh.org.uk:

Local illustrator gives a bespoke new design to our thank you cards

new cards

Thursday, 22 June 2023

We first came across Richard Bell’s artistic talent when he sent in a hand drawn illustrated card, thanking staff for the care provided to his brother in law, John. The card was an illustration about some of the hospice team Richard and his wife, Barbara met when they visited John in our Hospice. The card also included a drawing about one of John’s great moments in the Hospice, when he was visited by two star players of Featherstone Rovers on the ward.

Hospice card
early rough
Early rough

Richard wrote: “Thank you for all that you did for John and all that you did to make us feel welcome – we’re so grateful.”

We were blown away by the level of detail Richard had used in his illustrations and we asked Richard if he wanted to design our new thank you cards. Fortunately, he kindly agreed to illustrate them for us and what a fantastic job he has done!

My rough for the staff card
Later rough

One of the new designs show a roundup of hospice staff, Richard explained: “I was aiming for a fairly generic version of the hospice staff but inevitably the individual characters keep asserting themselves.” The other thank you card design shows beautifully the Hospice building, gardens and surrounding area.
Emma Dunnill, Legacy and In Memory Fundraiser said: “Richard’s attention to detail is fantastic and we think our supporters will love the bespoke designs. We can’t wait to start sending out these well-deserved thank you cards.”

You can see more of Richard’s work on his website http://wildyorkshire.blog/ where he has also shared illustrations of the Hospice gardens from his visits.

article

Link

The Prince of Wales Hospice, Pontefract

John meets Featherstone Rovers: my original thank you card to the Hospice

The Hospice Gardener

hospice staff cartoon

A final round-up of hospice staff for my project and the last one, the gardener, is my favourite, probably because I’ve had so many uniforms to draw. This is my third of fourth attempt at the gardener. Originally I had him wielding a chainsaw, which wasn’t really suitable for a group photograph, then I tried him with a pair of shears, which didn’t work because he then needed a little shrub to trim, which I didn’t have room for. The potted plant, garden fork and olive body warmer work fine for my hospice staff group.

The Hospice Team

hospice staff

I’m aiming for a fairly generic version of the hospice staff but inevitably the individual characters keep asserting themselves.

The Hospice Team

Hospice team cartoon

A big thank you to all the team at the Prince of Wales Hospice, Pontefract, who did so much for Barbara’s brother John and always made us welcome. We’re so grateful to them, although not SO grateful that we’d sign up to be dangled from a rope from the Cow and Calf Rocks in September (see link below if that appeals to you).

Of course, some teams are greater than others . . .

Hospice visitors

But John really did enjoy their visit.

Link

Ilkley Cow and Calf Tyrolean Traverse and Abseil Challenge
Challenge yourself and conquer The Cow and Calf Rocks by Tyrolean traverse and/or abseil
Date: 09 September 08:00 – 17:00

Sycamores

The Hospice makes the most of its leafy surroundings with plenty of windows and several small conservatories, a contrast with the tall, often inaccessible windows in the wards of the old buildings of Pinderfields Hospital just across the road.

We’re here visiting my mother-in-law Betty. They’ve done all they can for her medically in the hospital and the aim of the Hospice is now to make her comfortable rather than to bombard her with all resources of modern medicine in order to come up with a cure for her condition.

I see it as the difference between hard-nosed Health, with a capital ‘H’ – with all it’s targets for waiting lists, meeting budgets and successful outcomes – and well being, a softer concept which is more difficult to measure but is obvious when you come across it.

Leafy views and fresh flowers in vases, hair-dressing and aromatherapy sessions, have no place in the already stretched budgets of our National Health Service but they make such a difference to the way you feel, such a difference to the atmosphere of the place. The Health Service view might be to diagnose the problem and work towards a cure, seeing the patient to some extent as a problem to be solved. With the Hospice, it seems more as if the main aim is to treat you as a human being.

Having said that, we’ve got no complaints about the treatment Betty received in her months on the acute wards but the Hospice feels like the right place for her to be now.